Dual Core Vs Quad Core Processors Comparison

A lot of people aren't knowledgeable about the technical details involving computers when purchasing a new pc or getting an upgrade for their laptop computers, for example. Salespeople will often talk buyers into purchasing a computer that is more expensive than they need, with lots of bells and whistles.

The same goes when deciding about buying dual core vs quad core processors. Will your computer's performance really be enhanced that much by buying a quad processor instead of a dual core processor? Well, the answer is, it depends.

Read on for more information about dual core versus quad core processors and pc performance, and which is the better choice for you.

A multi-core processor is a CPU that uses two or more cores independent of one another to process information. The cores are usually attached to a chip multiprocessor, also known as CMP. Dual core processors contain two cores and quad core processors possess four separate cores. Different multi-core processors work in various ways. Some share cache, others do not.

So, if you buy a computer with a quad core processor instead of a dual core processor, it should be twice as fast, right? Wrong. Benchmark tests have proven that there is little or no improved performance on most applications when upgrading from dual core to quad core processors that are identical except for the number of cores.

Various software applications use multi-core processors for efficiency, but games and graphics are the types of software where the majority of users would find quad core processors most useful. The truth is, percentage wise very few software titles are able to utilize multi-core processor technology.

Even some operating systems can't handle multi core processors. Your computer's operating system must be able to handle thread-level-parallelism, or TLP, in order to support multi core processors.

Having a multi-core processor will deliver enhanced performance when multi tasking.

But unless you are an avid high end gamer, do frequent video editing, or use 3D rendering software, the extra cost of a quad core processor vs a dual core processor is probably not worth the investment.

For better performance, your money would be better spent on a cpu with more GHz and/or more cpu cache memory.